The Mech Touch

The Glory Seekers and Crossers were being quite sincere this time. Calabast did not disappoint him in trying to milk as many benefits as possible.

In a time where the entire galaxy became engulfed in mass unrest, it was quite wise for Colonel Ariadne Wodin and Patriarch Reginald Cross to pursue any means of increasing the security of their respective fleets!

Ves wasn't fully satisfied, though. He knew the value of his networks best. The advantages they bestowed were worth so much that even the Terrans and Rubarthans would be begging on their knees to obtain these powerful spiritual creations!

It was too bad that Ves would practically be committing suicide if he did so. The first-rate superstates had very powerful enemies who would stop at nothing to prevent the former hegemons of human space from rising up again.

There was also the Five Scrolls Compact to consider. Master Willix had already given him a pointed warning about that and he did not think she was kidding at the time.

As long as he and his partners were flying under the Compact's radar, it shouldn't be a big problem making use of spiritual networks.

However, as long as someone capable enough learned of their existence, the Compact would definitely look into his inventions. Since the cult was probably the most authoritative organization in human space with regards to spirituality, who knew how they would react!

This was why Ves thought it was best not to spread his spiritual networks that much, especially the more intimate ones like the one presided over by the Golden Cat.

It was already quite a risk to spread it out to two other organizations.

Technically, the Glory Seekers should have all become a part of the Superior Mother's network by now, but that one was different. The network governing the Hexers was much looser, did not require active acceptance from the Superior Mother, did not watch out for treacherous or harmful thoughts and did not make everyone who was a part of it more intimate with each other.

In other words, the Glory Seekers only enjoyed a very weak preview version of the more intimate spiritual network that was protecting the Larkinson Clan.

"What else did the Glory Seekers and Crossers promise?" He calmly asked as he adopted an expectant look. "What our allies have promised is already useful, but the scales aren't balanced in my eyes."

"Well, the third major concession they made is a solemn commitment to stand by the Larkinson Clan and defend us no matter the circumstances. They're even willing to hold a grand ceremony in order to formalize and honor this pact."

This was the first time since he entered Calabast's office that he snorted.

"They're simply bowing to reality. Once the Glory Seekers and Crossers adopt my networks, they become dependent on them. The only person who has the qualifications to tinker with them is me. This grants me a lot of power over the two organizations!"

In fact, Ves could easily abuse his access to their network to insert foreign values to their organizations or even cause them to view Ves with absolute respect! He could pull off so many shenanigans that he could practically collapse their foundation overnight!

If not for the fact that strong-minded expert pilots and other individuals were basically immune to the influence of spiritual networks, Ves would have actually felt tempted to pull off a scheme to turn them into vassals of the Larkinson Clan!

Still, as long as this arrangement went through, the price of falling out became too much for the two partners to bear. If they had any sense of intelligence in their minds, the leaders of the Glory Seekers and the Cross Clan would never risk the consequences of proceeding with an ugly breakup!

In that sense, the defense pact that the Glory Seekers and the Crossers generously proposed was nothing more than a recognizing reality rather than moving towards it. By making a commitment that was already a fact, the two allies lost nothing while being able to pretend they were magnanimous enough to entertain yet another demand of the Larkinson Clan.

From the intrigued expression on Calabast's face, she recognized the truth as well, but the forms still had to be obeyed. It would be a lot better if agreements like these were formalized in written agreements rather than remain unspoken.

"It looks like we'll be together for the long haul then." Ves murmured. "We won't merge into a single organization, but we won't be splitting off from each other anytime soon."

Calabast nodded. "I think this is good for us. No offense, Ves, but you tend to attract enemies a lot easier than others. It would be good if our allies become more committed to defending us. After all, if we fall, who knows what will happen to their networks? They need to keep the only source of tech support alive, which means that your wellbeing will become one of their core priorities!"

"That only matters as long as our allies can actually keep up with our growth. We've only just begun to ramp up. I don't even dare to guess how many capital ships and mech pilots we have under our control in a decade, but it will definitely dwarf what we have right now. Will the Glory Seekers and Crossers be able to match us or will they grow into non-entities down the line?"

"Hmm…" The spymaster fell in thought while she bumped the tip of her boot onto Arnold's nose.

"Squeak squeak!"

"My judgement is that they won't disappoint you." She eventually answered. "Let's take the Glory Seekers first. Ostensibly, they're a detached force of household troops of the Wodin Dynasty. We both know that 'detached' is defined rather loosely here. The influx of Hexer refugees in the past few months has indicated that it is actually functioning as an active arm of the Wodin Dynasty and by extension the rest of the Hegemony. That in turn means that the Hexer state is essentially backing the Glory Seekers. The implications of this will become more and more impactful over time, especially if the Hegemony loses the Komodo War and the remnants begin transferring all of their resources and hopes on its diaspora."

This was a realistic assessment. Ves had already noticed this in fact from the way that Gloriana was able to cooperate extensively with the Hegemony. No ordinary Journeyman would have been able to persuade a state to provide so much aid in ordinary times!

"As for the Cross Clan, I've already discussed this with you. Professor Benedict Cortez might not be blessed with an existing industrial and commercial base like yours, but a Senior Mech Designer is always a force to be reckoned with. Depending on his future business endeavors, he will definitely become the primary source of funding and innovation in the Cross Clan. His influence will rise and he will be able to drag the rest of the Crossers with him as well. Also, don't forget Patriarch Reginald Cross. I don't know if he'll ever be able to advance to ace pilot, but if he does…"

If Reginald Cross succeeded, he would become an existence that possessed the same amount of prestige as a Master Mech Designer!

In truth, this was something of a complicated subject. Ace pilots were generally equated to Senior Mech Designers first, but as they grew into their power, they quickly became existences that everyone would be forced to look up to. This was similar to a Master mech Designer.

This was why the mech community 'unofficially' divided ace pilots into two categories. Junior ace pilots were the ones who didn't have enough time to consolidate their power and master their new capabilities. Senior ace pilots were those who truly made use of their expanded capabilities to fight at a level that was far beyond that of an expert pilot!

No matter whether someone faced a junior or senior ace pilot, both of them were easily able to crush expert pilots with ease!

This was why the balance of power would definitely shift towards the Cross Clan if Reginald succeeded in accomplishing the improbable!

"Hmmm, maybe you're right." Ves said. "Our two allies do have the capital to keep up with us. From what it sounds like, we might be the ones who have to worry about getting left behind by them. It's a good thing that this agreement will cement our status no matter how much we fall behind."

He began to look more and more favorable to this deal. As Calabast proceeded to mention some other, less important concessions, Ves felt pretty good about selling his networks to the partners of the Larkinson Clan.

Yet Calabast did not sound completely optimistic.

"Before you go off to sign the new agreement, you should think about it more critically. While my team and I have tried to persuade the Glory Seekers and the Crossers to make more concessions, they are not inept when it comes to bargaining. Consider the temporal nature of the first and second major concession."

"Uh, what?" Ves almost wanted to scratch his head.

"The Cross Clan giving us two of their capital ship slots and both partners giving us full access to the CURRENT version of their tech libraries are extremely useful right from the beginning, but over time, they become less relevant."

He frowned at that. "You mean we're getting scammed?"

"I wouldn't say that. I am just trying to say that these concessions are mostly short and medium-term benefits rather than long-term ones." She clarified. "For example, giving us two capital ship slots is extremely critical in our first decade after entering the Red Ocean. Capital ships are direct sources of power in the new frontier and their scarcity ensures that they will play a disproportionate role in every pioneering fleet during the early days of colonizing the dwarf galaxy. Yet what about fifty years later? What if the Red Ocean develops to the point where the production of capital ships isn't bottlenecked anymore?"

"Then… I guess two more or two less capital ships is a trivial matter to the Larkinson Clan." Ves slowly commented. "Well, it's not as if ship slots are relevant anymore once we enter the Red Ocean. The slots were only ever about using up the limited ship quota of a beyonder ticket."

"That is true, and it is also important to note that the early impact of extra capital ships is still extremely valuable. Gaining just a bit of greater power in our early period can make a huge difference in our growth down the line. It's an investment that can pay off a hundred or even a thousand times in a few generations from now. That is because we wouldn't be as constrained from the start, thereby allowing us to take greater risks in a period where the Red Ocean is still filled with rapid growth opportunities."

This was a rather complicated topic and one that was difficult to quantify, but Ves understood the gist of it. The concept was no different from a startup company borrowing lots of money in the hopes of becoming a unicorn in the future.

"The tech licenses we gain access to will also decrease in value over time." Calabast noted. "Our allies won't give us access to new licenses and innovations for good reasons. They don't mind giving away their existing tech because it doesn't hurt them, it's already there and it will become outdated in a number of years anyway. Granted, getting almost all of their current tech will definitely boost our clan's technical capabilities during our crucial rapid growth phase, so it is not as if we are being scammed. The only issue is that it is impossible for us to continue the development of all of this existing tech. We lack the huge amount of researchers, developers and engineers that can update all of the different pieces of tech."

This was true and this would always be the case so long as the Larkinson Clan was not able to match a true state in terms of population, development, territory, industry, commerce and so on. The Larkinsons would still have to depend on outside help to keep up with the newer generations of technology.

Still, this was better than their prior situation, so Ves was already happy with this benefit.

"Even if we can't update all of the licenses and so on over time, it is already useful to have the designs of so many different devices in our central database. This allows us to become self-sufficient because we can just make specific machines that can solve a lot of our problems.. It won't matter if the performance of such machines lags behind the more modern ones. It beats having no solution!"